SF waiting on final real estate assessment numbers

Commissioners in South Fayette are on track to establish the township’s real estate taxation millage level at the Feb. 20 voting meeting.

At the Feb. 13 workshop meeting, township manager Ryan Eggleston said that the item will be on the agenda for next week. He added that the township wants to “wrap that (the millage rate) up so bills for local real estate taxes can go out.”

Township solicitor Jonathan Kamin said a lot of final real estate assessment numbers from the county are still pending. He said the township will take its best educated guess on where the final numbers will be when setting the millage rate.

Also at the meeting, the board discussed increasing the number of board members on the township’s planning commission. Currently, five members serve on the planning commission, but as many as nine are allowed to serve, as long as the terms are staggered.

“We anticipate a large amount of activity in the next year or two,” Kamin said, referring to the Newbury project and other pending developments in the township.

In addition to possibly increasing the number of planning commission members, the board also discussed increasing the number of members on the township’s parks and recreation board. Commissioner Lisa Malosh, parks and recreation liaison, said that she would be in favor of increasing the number of members on that board.

In other business, Bob Fryer, a Bridgeville business owner, presented commissioners with information on the development of the Washington Pike Corridor. Fryer, who has also worked with city planners regarding development, said that there is a traffic congestion problem along Washington Pike.

Fryer said the problem is that four-lane traffic is being “dumped on to two-lane Washington Pike” through Bridgeville and South Fayette. He said a possible solution to the problem would be to widen Washington Pike to four lanes through Bridgeville and South Fayette.

“Traffic congestion is like a brick wall,” Fryer said of folks not being able to get to South Fayette businesses. “You have to make sure you have a viable business district,” Fryer said, adding that can’t be done with a two-lane road.